Statement on the Death of Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, retired, has left us.

The Nation has lost one of its first citizens.

We cannot minimize the grief of his passing, but we can find solace in the thought that he was with us for so long. His was a life of rare distinction; soldier, scholar, author, teacher, jurist and gallant gentleman, he personified throughout his long career the finest American traditions.

Endowed with a keen and piercing intellect which was mellowed by kindly humor and understanding, he had a powerful and beneficent influence upon the Nation. Imbued with a high sense of justice and right, he believed in the peaceful evolution of the new from the old. He had a fine perspective of history as a continuous and living thing and with courage and logic believed in the shaping of government to changing conditions.

The people of America mourn the death of the venerable and beloved Justice.

Mrs. Roosevelt and I have had the high privilege of his friendship for many years. Our sorrow in his passing is great.